BJP lambasts UPA on Bodh Gaya blasts

UPA has failed totally to free the country from terrorism Demands a thorough probe into the incident ...

UPA has failed totally to free the country from terrorism

Demands a thorough probe into the incident

IB-CBI are at loggerheads, not in nation's interests

Bodh Gaya (PTI): The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday suspected that the terror attack at the Mahabodhi temple was done by a Home grown sleeper module of a terror group, it lashed out at the UPA government for "totally failing" in tackling terror and accused it of linking the national security with "vote bank politics".

Rajnath Singh, who visited Bodh Gaya along with senior leaders Arun Jaitley and Ravishankar Prasad, demanded a thorough probe into the incident and urged the Centre to show "firm will" to fight the menace of terror. Both Mr. Singh and Mr. Jaitley also alluded to the Ishrat Jahan encounter case, which has led to some sort of a CBI-versus IB face off and triggered speculation that probe findings in the "fake encounter" case could reach to Narendra Modi's door.

Buddhist Monks along with other religious leaders during an inter-faith prayer meeting at Rajghat in New Delhi on Tuesday following Sunday's serial blasts at Bodhgaya temple. (PTI Photo)

"UPA government has linked the security of the nation to the politics of vote bank. A lack of concern by UPA government is being seen over the need for security measures. They are showing (people belonging to) organisations like LeT as martyrs and exposing the security apparatus of the country," Mr. Jaitley said.

Maintaining that there should be full coordination between the intelligence and the investigating agencies in the country, the BJP president rued "today the IB and CBI are at loggerheads." "This happened because the Congress-led central government has been misusing the central agencies. There should be maximum possible coordination between agencies like the CBI and IB to fight terrorism," he said.

He said the Congress-led UPA government should take action to free the country from terrorism. UPA government has totally failed in this job, he charged. "We cannot deny that this kind of incident would have been carried out by the sleeper modules, which are in India, at the behest of the international terror groups. The matter should be thoroughly probed," Mr. Singh said.

Though Mr. Singh and Mr. Jaitley refrained from attacking Bihar government over the issue, they demanded that facts including whether specific intelligence inputs were given to the state or not should be brought in public domain.

Six suspects spotted

Bodh Gaya (IANS): Six suspects, including a woman, have been spotted in CCTV footage by investigators probing the 10 bomb explosions at Bodh Gaya's Mahabodhi temple in Bihar, police officials said on Tuesday. "We have detected six suspects, including a woman, since their movement close to the temple gate and wall, hours before the blasts, were captured in the CCTV footage," said a police official involved in looking at the footage. According to police officials, the CCTV footage shows three people entered the temple premises through unspecified entry points and two others stood near the gate close to the car they came in. One of them, who is the tallest, carried a bag on his shoulder.

Four more detained

Investigators on Tuesday detained four more people including a woman for suspicious movement and were being questioned while the CCTV footage of the terror attack has not thrown up any leads. Two days after the 10 multiple coordinated explosions, the four people were picked up by the NIA in Patna after police claimed they had checked out of a hotel near the Mahabodhi temple complex at about 6.30 AM, just about two hours after they checked in on the day of the attack.

Buddhist devotees participate in a protest against series of explosions in Bodhgaya, in Leh on Monday. (PTI Photo)